(The Hill) — Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk last week, allegedly confessed to fatally shooting the conservative activist in an online Discord chat group.
“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all,” an account believed to be operated by Robinson read, as first reported by The Washington Post. “It was me at UVU yesterday. [I’m] sorry for all of this.”
Discord did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
Sources told CBS that the company has “no evidence that the suspect planned this incident or promoted violence on Discord.”
Bullet casings found at the scene of the campus shooting were engraved with messages tied to gaming culture.
One read “Notices bulges OwO what’s this?” Other unfired cartridges allegedly read, “Hey fascist! Catch!” with the depiction of five arrow symbols: one up, one right, and three down. Two others read, “Oh Bella ciao Bella ciao Bella ciao ciao ciao” and “If you read this, you are gay lmao.”
The arrows are likely a reference to the combination of buttons players use to call in a bomb strike in the popular video game Helldivers 2. The game has been interpreted as a satire of fascism.
The phrase “bella ciao” is tied to a popular Italian folk song popularized as an antifascist anthem in Italy after World War II. Recently, the song has been featured in the Netflix series “Money Heist” and in video games, including the first-person shooter game Far Cry 6, according to The New York Times.
“Friends have confirmed that there was that deep, dark internet, Reddit culture and these other dark places of the internet, where this person was going deep,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“You saw that on the casings. I didn’t have any idea what those inscriptions meant, but they are certainly the meme-ification that is happening in our society today,” the governor added.
Kirk’s death has been widely covered after videos of the graphic shooting rapidly spread online. The Turning Point USA co-founder had close ties to President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance as well as other high-ranking GOP members.
Republican lawmakers and Trump alike have heavily criticized Democrats’ rhetoric following the assassination and threatened action against those appearing to celebrate the shooting.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned staff that the Pentagon is “tracking” comments and social media posts about the incident. The Department of Homeland Security made a similar vow.
Read: Read More